Factors To Consider When Designing Man-Machine Interface Essay Of Machinery.

You are working for an equipment and machinery design company. The directors of your organisation have asked for a report detailing the factors which must be considered when designing the man-machine interface element of machinery.

They are unsure whether to consider traditional interfaces or more modern technological advances, therefore they would like an analysis of both options with examples of uses of the interfaces you discuss, and where required a clear explanation of any adverse factors that need to be considered.

Today in the competitive enterprise, there is a need of ideal enterprise system as per the employment of the resources needed. The Human Machine Interaction is the basic system of ergonomic analysis (Havlikova, Jirgl and Bradac 2015). There is a complexity difference which completely depends on the machine. The context of machine could be understood from simple tools having hammers and screwdrivers with largely automated technical systems which are found in chemical industry and power plants. The machine has the characteristics to transform the movements of human to machine output. In terms of complexity, many human-machine systems have got commonalities (Porter and Heppelmann 2014). A solution is required for the machine to control the problem and find appropriate input and get the desired output. Today and also in the future, the competitive enterprise is capable of managing independently all the manufacturing functions. The enterprise resources have got highest level of communication that are to be performed for an organized multimedia (Seitz et al. 2016). The results are presented for development of industrial services with telematics interfaces. In this paper, the differences would be provided for traditional vs modern interface.

The Man Machine interface (MMI) is a user interface (UI) having the most critical component for usability of the machine. When the complexity increases, it becomes easy to use the machines. There is a requirement of a robust Man-Machine-Interface (MMI) to operate a machine at a distance (Liang and Yu 2018). The system has remote user at each instant with distant. There have a real machine panel to deal with new problems mostly from communications (Czerniak, Brandl and Mertens 2017). Some of the Man-Machine-Interfaces with a panel having machine control unit were built for decades. The respective builders have got machine control unit panels with some common characteristics. The status of the machine could be indicated by LED’s that could rotate the buttons for digital values or machine operation (Wang et al. 2016). The remote interface and the local Man-Machine-Interface are similar for implementation. The visual appearance for the buttons are almost same as per the panel of virtual control unit. The virtual panel is similar to original machine panel. Functionality are almost similar for virtual and physical buttons (Stowers et al. 2017).

The Man-Machine-Interface has Human-Computer-Interface (HCI), Brain Computer Interface (BCI) with two Machine-machine interface (Czerniak, Brandl and Mertens 2017). The Human-machine interactions have got realistic contexts which are characterize by machine or plant that have direct contact with the operator, in context to socio-technical working were interactions take place. The human operator has interaction through interfaces and controls.

• Interfaces includes decision support tools, indicators, display panels which transforms the machine behavior in auditory, visual and tactile information. The system having dynamic evolution supports the operator in developing the strategies for the management and control.
• Controls makes the operation possible for the system and automation with the strategy of implementing the operator’s intention.

The conditions of socio-technical working comprise of context and environment that have:

• Operations taking place in actual environment that include space, light, temperature and noise.
• The decision maker collaborates in a distance, having operators which could cooperate directly; and
• The social context which represents the management policies, society, rules of the company and climate culture.

The human machine interface composes of a level of complexity with tools, procedures, materials, equipment, software and facilities. A given task is performed with intended operational or support environment were a task is given or achieve with a specific production, mission or support requirement (Lake, Salakhutdinov and Tenenbaum, 2015). The crucial aspects of modern computer technology use to control and manage the plants and machines for normal operations with emergency or transient conditions. The whole plant of terminology system is simply associated with the hardware and software components that have a synonym of machine (Czerniak, Brandl and Mertens 2017). There is a much wider sense used to adopt the Man Machine Interface with a much wider sense including humans, context and environment.

Comparison

The MMI evolution accommodate with functions having dozens of devices with the single interface capabilities and is intuitive enough to easily and quickly activate and deactivate the functions. The “man-machine interface” have got relationship between user, machine and control for visualization (Havlikova, Jirgl and Bradac, 2015). The interest of researchers could be achieving by tangible user interfaces. The machine and software technology are constantly evolving which the designers need to grapple. The intuitive-interface is capable of withstanding the use of target environment (Liang and Yu 2018).

The MMI design is achieve to gain in-depth understanding of target user, with goals of product or machine use. The HMI designers understand the time and identify the user with the skill level with possible environmental effects of the machine with the most important users of primary and secondary functions (Czerniak, Brandl and Mertens 2017). It is easy to learn the interface for the end user for consistent. For the HMI design it is the most challenging aspects for engineers. The non-intuitive user interface has highly functional design to use. For a user the skill become critical that are used for the design perspective of the engineer that have a most successful HMI designer.

The process for the HMI designer is to remember the designing and the engineering process with minimal training and onboarding. The distinct needs of various subgroups are likely to use the machine were each target end user will use the product. In the online information systems, the man machine interface (MMI) includes the equipment’s of the terminal (Lake, Salakhutdinov and Tenenbaum 2015). The software programs use the computer logic, operating procedures and task allocation with a purpose and structure having a person interact with the computer. The computer processing uses the paper files and the operator manuals in conjunction with computer processing and influences the job performance of the work environment (Havlikova, Jirgl and Bradac 2015). The operating procedures review, task analysis, equipment selection, workspace configuration is all need to be handled with care with the design of the MMI software.

The discussion above has made it evident that UI is one of the most crucial tool that has lead the human development. However, with the development of the technology and passing time, UI have developed as well. It has led to a comparison between both the UI’s. The traditional UI was mostly based on the concept of skeumorphism while the modern advancements are dedicated to a more simplistic design. Skeumorphism is the structuring or designing of the digital components to resemble their real world counter parts (Wu et al. 2015). During the initial phases of the UI that is in the 1980’s and till the early 2000, it was the most dedicated form of UI. It was done to make the users comfortable with the technology by making them feel relatable (Besana et al. 2018). However, with the change of time, the users got comfortable with the User Interface and there was no need for the skeumorphism and slowly it was replaced simplistic design.

Apple was the first company that moved away from skeumorphism and moved towards simplistic design. The simplistic design is more focused towards UX that is the user experience rather than UI interface. As part of the UX, the designers are more focused towards offering users with a more comfortable experience instead of making it more attractive (Blouin et al. 2018). The importance of the UX has become more importantly because of the fact that recently, there have been protest against the technology and the role that MMI is making in developing the addiction of technology among its users. The terms such as Digital Attention Crisis, Time Well Spent and others are making demands for further reformation in the interface of the technological systems o that they are more dedicated towards productive use rather than hacking the mind. Tristan Harris, the founder of Time Well Spent claims that the tech firms are designing the technologies so that they can hack the users mind and gain profit against it (Harris 2016). Apple have also received a petition from a group of parents to make necessary changes in the devices so that the children would not get addicted to it and should rather use it for productive means. Similarly, other cases are also available that are raising criticism over the modern interface design.

Hence, to summarize the discussion over it would be justified to state that the both the traditional and modern approaches for the man machine interaction have their prominence and disadvantages. The traditional mode of UI designing was dedicated towards ensuring that the users get comfortable with the technology and its use. While the latter versions of the MMI and HCI are dedicated towards offer an improved experience of using technological advancements. The prominence of UX over UI is also a part of the modern advancement in the field of MMI. However, it is also developing challenge for the designers and its users as well. So, it would be adequate to state that the designing of the MMI should be a balance between the traditional and modern approach so that the user gets ease and comfort of using and does not end gets addicted to it.

Conclusion

The paper in discussion could be emphasized to state that Man Machine Interface or its latter versions such as HCI are most crucial part of technological advancement and in the process the human development. Interfaces includes decision support tools, indicators, display panels which transforms the machine behavior in auditory, visual and tactile information. The interface was initially designed for communication between human and machines however, it has evolved to control actions monitor, provide feedback and multiple other functions. The expansion of the UI has been extensive and it has continuously improved MMI to HCI and the latest addition to it, being BCI. It has also been identified that the MMI has witnessed huge evolution in terms of feature and functionality over the course of the time. It started from skeumorphism design and evolved to UX that is dedicated towards offerings users with better experience of using interface. The discussion has also identified that the recent development in the field of UI has ben criticized and believed that instead of offering productivity it is restricting the productivity and leading to technology addiction. Furthermore, it has been claimed that the tech companies are developing UI to hack into the minds of the users with the objective of making monetary benefit. Hence, in conclusion it would be justified to state that the interface has evolved with time and to offer users with a better experience but some cons have also attached itself with the development.

Based on the discussion above the following recommendations can be made for the equipment and machinery design company.

1. The factor that is most crucial in context with the user interface is the user experience and how they feel when using the interface.
   
   
2. The interface should be designed to as a combination of both traditional method and the modern approaches. It helps the developers to offer the users with an interface that will make them comfortable and will offer a better experience to the users.
   
   
3. If the firm is developing devices that are for professional use or corporate use, the designed should be made that is relevant to the traditional interface which offers comfort and ease of use. While, if the system is being designed for personal use user experience should be given preference.

References

Besana, A., Bagnasco, A.M., Esposito, A. and Calzolari, A., 2018. It's a Matter of Attention: The Marketing of Theatres in the Age of Social Media. International Journal of Arts Management, 20(3).

Blouin, A., Lelli, V., Baudry, B. and Coulon, F., 2018. User Interface Design Smell: Automatic Detection and Refactoring of Blob Listeners. Information and Software Technology.

Czerniak, J.N., Brandl, C. and Mertens, A., 2017. Designing human-machine interaction concepts for machine tool controls regarding ergonomic requirements. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 50(1), pp.1378-1383.

Harris, T., 2016. How Technology is hijacking your mind: From a magician and Google design ethicist. Thrive Global, 18.

Havlikova, M., Jirgl, M. and Bradac, Z., 2015. Human Reliability in Man-Machine Systems. Procedia Engineering, 100, pp.1207-1214.

Lake, B.M., Salakhutdinov, R. and Tenenbaum, J.B., 2015. Human-level concept learning through probabilistic program induction. Science, 350(6266), pp.1332-1338.

Liang, Y. and Yu, S., 2018, November. Research on compatibility in man-machine interface design of products. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 439, No. 3, p. 032094).

Porter, M.E. and Heppelmann, J.E., 2014. How smart, connected products are transforming competition. Harvard business review, 92(11), pp.64-88.

Seitz, R., Schindler, D. and Pruschek, P., DMG Mori AG and DMG Mori Co Ltd, 2016. Control system for controlling operation of a numerically controlled machine tool, and back-end and front-end control devices for use in such system. U.S. Patent Application 14/909,321.

Stowers, K., Oglesby, J., Sonesh, S., Leyva, K., Iwig, C. and Salas, E., 2017. A framework to guide the assessment of human–machine systems. Human factors, 59(2), pp.172-188.

Wang, L., Canedo, A.M. and Strobel, H., Siemens AG, 2016. Offloading human-machine-interaction tasks. U.S. Patent Application 15/038,051.

Wu, L., Lei, T., Li, J. and Li, B., 2015, August. Skeuomorphism and Flat Design: Evaluating Users’ Emotion Experience in Car Navigation Interface Design. In International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability (pp. 567-575). Springer, Cham.